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UBS posted an $18 bil lion loss for 2008, more than initially reported, and said it remains “ex tremely cautious” about the outlook for this year. The figure widened by roughly $1 billion from the figure reported on Feb. 10 because of costs to settle a US tax investigation and additional writedowns on securities, the Zurich- based bank said in its an nual report.

Merrill fine

A Merrill Lynch broker age will pay $7 million to settle US regulatory claims it inadequately protected information about customer trades on so-called squawk-box in tercom systems from 2002 to 2004.

PayPal

EBay said its PayPal payment-processing busi ness will become bigger than its marketplace unit, and will become the big gest processor of online payments globally. Pay Pal’s revenue may grow 19 percent this year, vs. a 6 percent contraction for the company overall, according to Sandeep Ag garwal, a Collins Stewart analyst in San Francisco.

Freddie needs

Freddie Mac said it needs $30.8 billion from the Treasury to survive after a fourth-quarter loss of $23.9 billion, nearly 10 times that of a year ago.

Hedge funds

SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said the agency should be given the au thority to write rules for hedge funds. Schapiro told a House appropriations subcommittee that hedge- fund rules should require disclosures of trading and holdings. She didn’t say whether the disclosures should be made public. Reuters, NY Post